Find out what's happening behind the scenes in the organisation that maintains Scotland's land and property registers.

Message from the Keeper: July 2018

Following an event-packed June, marked by close collaboration and open conversation with stakeholders, we’ve continued this theme throughout July as well.

Maximising our data potential

This month I’ve had both internal and external meetings around our data and how we hold, analyse and release it. This concept begins with the 20 registers we hold, and is followed by how RoS as an organisation takes that data in, processes it expertly, stores it accurately and securely, and then releases that data as either individual (e.g. title sheets) or consolidated (e.g. reports) records.

How does this translate into tangible developments across the business? This month has been about looking at how we can take in data more efficiently, and release our data reports in a way that’s easily understood and shared in a way that maximises its effectiveness.

To this end, I’ve met with colleagues in our Information and Analysis team, as well as welcoming external visitors. One of the latter was Hamish Trench, Chief Executive of the Scottish Land Commission (SLC). The SLC have a keen interest in effective use of land and ways to improve this, and as such we have a common interest in how they could use our data to inform their thinking – this is something we’ll continue to explore moving forward.

I also met with Trefor Owens, Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission. They’re the biggest landowner in Scotland and therefore vital to completing the Land Register. I’m delighted to hear that they are very focussed on meeting the target for public land owners of completing their registrations by the end of 2019. This is great news and we’re looking forward to working with other public bodies to continue this progress.

Other business developments

We’ve continued to progress with the key areas of the business discussed in last month’s blog. This includes addressing our current registration backlog; I’ve been working closely with other members of the executive management team and beyond, to further advance our plans to eradicate the arrear and ensure it stays that way, including registration and policy improvements.

In the past week, we’ve also completed the introduction of our twentieth register, the Register of Applications by Community Bodies to Buy Land (RoACBL). It’s a register of all applications made by community bodies to buy land or property that’s abandoned, neglected or causing harm to the environmental wellbeing of the community, and where the owner is not willing to sell. You can find out more about RoACBL on our website.